Iowa State University was recently recognized as one of the “Highly Regarded CyberSecurity Programs” on Online Engineering Programs’ blog. The list is comprised of five outstanding professors and universities in online cybersecurity programs. Iowa State was commended for its online master of science degree in information assurance, focusing largely on cybersecurity. This degree is offered [Continue Reading…]

Iowa State engineers Doug Jacobson and Manimaran Govindarasu have built the “PowerCyber” testbed to help researchers, industry engineers and students learn to protect the cyber security of the power grid. The testbed will do vulnerability analysis, risk assessment, attack-defense evaluations and other tests. The end goal is to help create a future electric power grid that is secure and resilient.

Teams of students will face eight straight hours of attacks on the computers and networks behind a simulated city’s power and water utilities. Can they protect all the software, hardware and connections? Will the lights stay on? Will the water run? Will the residents of a small, fictional city be without critical services and infrastructure?

It’s easy to think of the electrical grid as the power plants, the high voltage lines, the transmission towers, the substations and all the low-voltage distribution lines that bring power to our homes and businesses.An attack on that grid would involve getting out and cutting lines or dropping towers.

Doug Jacobson, University Professor in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, was interviewed by Iowa Public Radio’s Ben Kieffer on the December 9 edition of River to River. Jacobson and ISU associate professor of information systems Brian Mennecke, give their takes on the latest news regarding privacy, data collection, and cyber-security at the link below. The Illusion of Privacy in [Continue Reading…]

Part of $40 million White House Smart Cities Initiative A team of researchers from the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at Iowa State University was awarded one of 12 Global City Teams Challenge (GCTC) research projects by the National Science Foundation this week. The GCTC, a joint initiative of the National Institute of Standards [Continue Reading…]

Though he doesn’t think it was a cyber-attack, Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson admits U.S. cybersecurity is in need of vast improvements. Experts at the home of the first computer agree. Technical glitches caused The Wall Street Journal’s website to shut down, trading to stop at the New York Stock Exchange, and United Airlines to ground flights. The outages came one after the other, all on the same day.

Iowa State University researchers are developing the nation’s first computer security literacy curriculum designed for middle school and high school students. During the IT-Olympics computer competition for high school students April 24-25 at Iowa State’s Hilton Coliseum, Iowa State cyber security experts will lead a workshop to introduce teachers to the curriculum and its learning [Continue Reading…]

Lottery officials say they have made changes to make sure their games are secure and fair in connection with allegations that a former security director rigged a Hot Lotto winning ticket worth $14.3 million. Eddie Raymond Tipton, 51, was scheduled to stand trial Monday on two counts of fraud, more than four years after prosecutors [Continue Reading…]

One hour is how long it could take for my identity to be stolen. And that’s how long it took three graduate students to create a website façade that would allow them to see the password that could lead them to my social security number, my identity. With today’s push in mobile technology, people may [Continue Reading…]

Defenders of cybersecurity are fighting against the current, Iowa State University professor Doug Jacobson said. “All we ever are are defenders,” said Jacobson, an electrical and computer engineering professor. “Imagine playing a sport where you could never put your offensive team on the field.” Jacobson is also the director of Iowa State’s Information Assurance Center, [Continue Reading…]

Department of electrical and computer engineering online master’s program named number four in the nation The online master’s degree in information assurance at Iowa State has been ranked fourth in the nation by The Best Schools. Guidelines for selection included academic excellence, types of available classes, faculty strength, rankings and reputation. The top three schools [Continue Reading…]